Aces party at Strip nightclub after winning WNBA title

It is an epic day when you wake up in Connecticut and don’t go to bed until after partying at a mega-club on the Las Vegas Strip. The Las Vegas Aces did that Sunday. They also worked in the first major-sports championship ever in our city, beating the Connecticut Sun 78-71 on Sunday afternoon.

Afterward, several team members filed into Drai’s Nightclub at the Cromwell for their first party as WNBA titlists. Finals MVP Chelsea Gray was among the Aces to file into the venue. She scored 20 points in the clinching victory and led the fast break to the stage.

Win a championship. Hit the club. @LVAces @DraisLV arrivals. Sparklers, sounds, party cannons … #RJNow @reviewjournal pic.twitter.com/MU1Wun0Ivy

— John Katsilometes (@johnnykats) September 19, 2022

The team arrived at 2:15 a.m., led by a parade of cocktail servers carrying the team’s signs and in a blizzard of sparklers, and hung until about 4 a.m.

Aces players Kierstan Bell, Aisha Sheppard and Theresa Plaisance were also in the mix. League MVP A’ja Wilson, coach Becky Hammon and owner Mark Davis were not in the celebratory entourage.

#Righteous championship action @LVAces take it to overtime @DraisLV after winning #WNBA title. #Vegas #RJnow @reviewjournal pic.twitter.com/8TTtdjuGN2

— John Katsilometes (@johnnykats) September 19, 2022

The assembled Aces joined DJ Franzen (backed by the Drai’s Dirty Dancers) and rapper E-40, the night’s headliner. “Everybody give it up for the Aces!” E-40 cried out, routinely. The team was delivered 12 bottles of Moët & Chandon champagne, four bottles of Volcán X.A. tequila, a bottle of D’Usse cognac and a magnum of Ace of Spades champagne.

Suffice to say, there would be no interviews amid the revelry in the famous Vegas nightspot.

In October, Drai’s celebrates its 25th year of operations.

The team’s formal victory celebration is set for 5:30 p.m. Tuesday on the Strip. The event starts at Caesars Palace and moves to Bellagio Fountains. Southbound Las Vegas Boulevard lanes between Flamingo Road and Bellagio Drive will be closed from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. Tuesday.

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His “PodKats!” podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.